MST3K 817 - The Horror of Party Beach
The Movie "I generally had a positive impression of white people before this movie." Synopsis Hank Green (Scott) and Tina, his girlfriend (Clark) drive to a public beach to have a good time and listen to the band "The Del-Aires." Immediately upon arrival, they continue a longstanding bitter argument about the merits of growing up vs. continuing to have fun. "I never needed you and I never will", saith Tina, She then separates from Hank and indulges in group beach dancing, which leads to flirting with the leader of an unusual motorcycle gang ("The Mild Ones"). Some ways away, Hank begins commiserating with Elaine, his bosses' daughter, over his difficulties with TIna. There is stage fighting between Hank and the gang leader, then Tina swims out to a rock about a quarter of a mile off the beach to reflect. She is killed by a sea monster, which, in the opening, was created by the dumping of radioactive waste into a nearby harbor. Her body, it is implied, is discovered at the scene. A bit later, two cops bring a "sample" to Dr. Gavin, a pipe-smoking scientist (a marine biologist, perhaps), who is acting as a "special consultant to the police" on the sea monsters and who has a lab hs basement. Gavin shares his home with his 40-year-old teenage daughter Elaine, and Eulabelle, his voluble middle-aged project manager / colorful ethnic domestic. Elaine then bids her father goodbye before heading off to Tina's funeral, but not before declaing her guilt over having intense feelings for Hank. The monsters, who need human blood to live, are capable of locating slumber parties, traveling inland, and carrying out coordinated attacks, killing over twenty girls at said gathering, then dispatching three women with broad Brooklyn accents who are driving to New York city. They are foiled in an attempt to kill two women leaving a drugstore, and in reptilian rage smash the window of a store, which causes one to sever his arm. There is much media attention over the mayhem. Dr. Gavin meets with police in his basement to analyze the writhing arm, which lies on a lab bench. There is the standard technology porn, (e.g., a period shot of a reel-to-reel tape recorder in operation - think Phantom Planet, Night of the Bloodbeast, King Dinosaur) and Eulabelle comes downstairs into the lab and carelessly overturns a container of pure, extraordinarily dangerous, highly explosive sodium (which was on the lab bench for some reason) onto the arm, ending its relentless twitching. This, it is triumphantly asserted, is the weapon with which the monsters will be defeated. The characters then spend what seems to be several more weeks of letting people get killed by the monsters before Hank, at Eulabelle's relentless prodding, decides to finally go get some sodium (but not in such a rush that he can't enjoy a motor tour of Manhattan) and destroy the monsters in a scene which might remind you in some fashion of the alien's Waterloo in "Attack of the The Eye Creatures". Information *Made in the spring of 1964 for a paltry $60,000, The Horror of Party Beach is Del Tenney's best-known film. He released this along with The Curse of the Living Corpse on a double bill in May 1964. *Del Tenney himself makes a brief appearance as a gas station attendant who flirts with a car full of B girls. http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/partybeach.html *This film is a personal favorite of Stephen King. *Yes, the Del-Aires were a real band, and a fairly popular one on the east coast. Bad Movie Planet has a full history and profile of them. The Episode Host Segments Prologue: While Mike tries to explain their present situation, Tom takes a leaf out the book of the Gyuto Monks of Tibet and attempts to harmonize his overtones with the fundamental. Segment One: Mike marvels at Tom's multi-layered chanting, until he discovers the little robot has some pre-recorded assistance. Meanwhile down in Ancient Rome Apearlo and Brainguyus attempt to convince a delighted Callipygeas and a suspicious Flavia that they are in fact gods. They "prove" themselves when they communicate with the average-looking man-god, the golden spider duck, and the squat crimson pig living in the stars. Segment Two: Crow and Tom are in costume for their manly beach dance, but the swimming trunks they've made for Mike to wear are a tad small, in the sense that he's effectively nude. Segment Three: Pearl and Observer continue try and convince their hosts that they're gods, opting for the music of the gods, including 'Seasons In The Sun' by Terry Jacks and a beef flavored hoe-down! Segment Four: Impressed by the extremely up-to-date newspaper boy from the movie, Tom goes one better and offers copies of the S.O.L. Post with to the second updated headlines to Mike, covering his increasing annoyance at the skit. Closing (Segment Five): Dressed as the Del-Aires, Mike and the Bots reach out to youth of today and sing of Sodium!, while down in Rome as Brain Guy and Callipygeas increasingly bond, Pearl and Flavia increasingly trade insults. Stinger: The semi-nude thin guy in full swing at the beach dance Quotes & References *''"Oh great, another Afrikaner beach movie!"'' Afrikaners are the descendants of early Dutch settlers in South Africa. They formed the major support for the racist policy of apartheid. *''"Sturgis: a city on the move."'' A reference to the South Dakota city that holds the famous annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. *''"The monster gets up and immediately puts on 'Metal Machine Music'."'' Metal Machine Music is an album by Lou Reed. It consists of 64 minutes of guitar feedback. *''Tonight on "Roar"...'' Roar was a short lived action/adventure series which aired in 1997 on Fox created by former 70's hearthrob and TV producer, Shaun Cassidy as a cash-in of the Hercules/Xena craze. It starred Heath Ledger as a young Celtic cheiftain fighting Roman invaders in Anicent Ireland. *''"Oh, I am so Twila Tharp...!"'' Twila Tharp is a New York choreographer and dancer, who often uses pop music in her work. *''"I want my Peter Allen records back."'' Peter Allen was a songwriter and performer who 'outed' himself following his divorce from Liza Minelli. *''"Look out, Ted Kennedy's drivin' home!"'' Long-time professional drinker Ted Kennedy, who was also involved in politics, drove his car off a bridge on Martha's Vineyard (Mass.) which resulted in the suffocation/drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne . His actions immediately following the accident --- like making no effort to rescue Kopechne, who was trapped alive in the car for three to four hours before dying --- inexplicably failed to ruin Kennedy's political career . *''"Mother Angelica is on!"'' 'Mother Mary Angelica is the founder of the Eternal Word Television Network , which broadcasts Catholic-themed programming; she hosted a talk show named 'Mother Angelica Live.' *''"Someone set The Second Sex to music."'' The Second Sex was written by Simone de Beauvoir and is considered a major work of feminist literature. The "folk song" being sung here ("Oh hard is the fortune of all womenkind . . .") is "The Wagoner's Lad", a folk-song often sung a capella by Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. * The Ipswich Women's Club presents Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'." "The Lottery" is a famous short story in which a woman is stoned to death. The Ispwich Woman's Club is an old English social club. Additionally, "The Batley Townswomens' Guild presents the Battle of Pearl Harbour " was a sketch in the 11th episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. *''(Eulabelle: 'It's a human thing!') "...You wouldn't understand."'' A riff on a famous line ("It's a black thing; you wouldn't understand.") from the Spike Lee movie ''Do The Right Thing'.''' *"I just saw 'Rent!'"'' A reference to the long-running Broadway musical . *''"They're headed to the Lavern De Fazio convention."'' 'Laverne De Fazio' was the name of Penny Marshall's character from the sitcom Laverne & Shirley . *''"I'm Margaret Chase Smith, running for Senate..."'' Margaret Chase Smith was a Republican politician from Maine, and the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate. *''"Baby Bop is a prowler!"'' ''''Baby Bop is one of the secondary characters from the children's show Barney & Friends . Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 8 Category:Teen Exploitation